Notre Dame vs. Texas A&M Game Recap - College Football Week 1

nutre Dame goes in to Kyle Field and they leave with a 23-13 win making the 12 man look a little bit fraudulent but not that outside of the ordinary based on A&M's last couple Seasons I'm Riley Davis I am joined by Max Millington you are on the sleepers media YouTube channel we're breaking down the the biggest the biggest games of this past weekend so teas that at the beginning huge Road win for Notre Dame another disappointment for A&M Max what are your biggest takeaways from this one so Notre Dame and Texas A&M are both in this like very similar realm I feel like both I think have fan bases with very high expectations and both were coming into this one like okay we need to prove something like Notre Dame's a number seven team a lot of high expectations and people feel like this is a team that is definitely cfp Contender but also like maybe in the in the conversation of like we could see them in the final four you know final four of college football or you know possibly Championship Contender right A&M is like all right we have this new coach and Mike Elco we're doing things a little bit differently in terms of like our team and we're going to be physical and you know all this other stuff and we're r and this could be a year where we make some in the SEC I honestly if I'm a member of either fan base and I'm not so you know call me crazy but I as an objective viewer I feel like both sides can come away feeling okay now if you're A&M you don't love Louisiana home but you know if we're going by the rankings here Notre Dame's rank a little higher um you've got a head coach with three years of experience um you know they're they're they're ready for the moment and so if if I'm ANM fan it sucks but in the long run I think Mike Elco like we we both know Duke football more interly the most I think Mike Elko is gonna be okay there like it's it's one game it's it's the first one like Su Los at home but it'll be okay I think if you're Notre Dame you're feeling amazing because you had to prove that you belonged you did you went to one of the hardest places in college football to play you got the win and I I tweeted this out and I believe it 100% I don't think Notre Dam is gonna lose another game I would be surprised if they lost another game like they're going to roll so you got the hardest win of the season on paper out of the way all you got to do is take care of business the rest of the way and you have a spot in this in the college football playoff and we'll see what you can do from there but yeah I mean even if they drop a game there's a good chance they can still get into the TW uh the final 12 Let's uh let's lean into what you're saying on A&M for a second because I'm with you I said this on our preview with Brian Ralph that Mike Elco coach circles around coaches in the ACC for most of last year I believe in him long term I thought the defense particularly that front seven was just menacing uh like Nick scorton lived up to the Expectations by the way herb Street mentioned this on the broadcast they said he played middle linebacker in high school where where's number 11 and uh I don't want to be too hot taky but like wouldn't it be that surprising if he has an NFL trajectory that follows another number 11 who went from middle linebacker to Edge rusher like he's a special special talent there and I I could see why A&M could feel a little bit of angst after this loss with just how incompetent the offense looked when you have this fantastic defense you had uh Scooby Williams making plays of course the safeties were all over the field on night flying around the ball uh could not be more impressed with that defense they had a couple obviously missed UPS down the stretch with those two long rushing touchdowns but for the most part if you hold a team to to 20 points at home you should be walking out with a win so that that's the positive there like the defense is legit legit it has that same they they run that same disguise Blitz like come at you aggressive style that Elco uh really made a name for himself for in the ACC but yeah it's just it's really tough to get away from how bad Conor Wegman looked and like maybe some of it you attribute to a new offensive coordinator with Colin Klein first game in a new system um but God it like it wasn't just the the inaccurate passes some of them he was like leading receivers into traffic you had that fourth and eight uh that fourth and eight play where he just Chucks the ball downfield because he thinks he's got a free play even though no flag comes out you have to fourth and two at the end of the game that really wasn't even close to being completed what do you make of Wegman is this because again Brian and I took some Flack in the comments of the preview so sorry we got to we got to keep the receipts here we took some Flack for saying he it's a small sample size we're not necessarily seeing you know him as a future first rounder like some mock drafts have him the draft Network which is like truly one of my favorite I think they do tremendous job covering the draft they had him I think 22nd or somewhere in that range uh last week but yeah what do you make of Wegman is there is there any signs of life you saw or is it a matter of time before we just see jayen Henderson getting snaps under Center I mean he just didn't look like confident out there at all and that could be credit to Notre Dame's defense their physicality and Marcus Freeman but I think it's always tough when you're coming off of an injury and I'm not saying that he was necessarily playing like he was scared to get hurt it's just like finding that Rhythm and getting back when you have week one at home some so much pressure and the opponent is you know Notre Dame and it's a tough game like that's that's a hard that's a hard a fo to um to stand on and and and start with especially week one so I think it remains to be seen but you don't love it if you're you know A&M fan like 12 for 30 100 yards passing you know two interceptions it just does not look good at all um I we'll we'll have to see moving forward but but you know that's I'm not feeling too good I'm not feeling too I uh I made a note of this I can't remember I want to say it was in the fourth quarter I don't know what the final stat was but at one point in the fourth quarter it was they showed the stat that said on on throws of five plus air yards wegan was four for 13 for 53 yards and two picks really really rough kind of fits with a theme we've seen from a lot of these bigname teams top 25 teams left and right this weekend have not been able to downfield uh so at least maybe A&M fans can take can take comfort of that like you're not alone but still not probably got to ease the pain just coming out of this loss so uh you know we talked some about the A&M defense would be remiss not to to give Notre Dam props I know we've you've mentioned that like I mean this might be one of the best two or three defenses in the country because you know I'm again a defensive battle like this you kind of got to learn to embrace the uh the grittiness of it I guess and we can lean into that you know football guy talk a little bit with just watching the off excuse me watching the defensive line um you know Howard cross had a couple big plays I think his athleticism how quickly he gets off blocks is truly special to watch I mean Riley Mills had a couple nice plays in there but even when he wasn't in the game like they have depth along the D line uh but then you had the two safeties uh with I know Xavier Watts the All-American Adon Schuler made a name for himself as well though um yeah anything that stood out to you about this defense yeah I mean the physicality um they got off the field on third down which is amazing I think when you're going into an environment like cyfield what you want to do is take the crowd out out of the game right and so uh I think Marcus Freeman had the right plan coming into it and you mentioned all the standouts that really showed up but he had his guys ready to play at the end of the day like he had his guys ready to come into a hostile environment and you know make sure that the fans were not uh it like not excited it was I mean like halftime it's 6 to six and I this is very similar to like the Oregon Idaho game which was I was watching it at the same time because they were both it's like all right that game halftime it's 14 to zero the crowd is confused not very pleased with they're saying they're they're you know they're going to get their hot dogs and bathroom break and G to come back for the third quarter like quiet and at that point you can continue to you know control the game because you don't have the crowd in it and so similar to to that game coming back from halftime six to six everyone's like okay what's going on like we got to get some type of juice because you know this is like what are we what are we watching here and so you know credit to to Marcus Freeman for getting his guys ready he I mean he took the crowd out of the game and and they um really really stifled that offense yeah I agree with you I mean they were swarming all over the all over the field uh let me see if I can find the third down stat right quick yeah yeah so A&M's third down efficiency was 4413 uh 0 for two on fourth down Notre the funny thing is Notre Dame's uh third down efficiency was actually worse it was two um and I was just gonna say I I think you alluded to it before but um the yards per pass again 3.3 yards per pass not really you're not really able to get much from that on this defense um I mean even yeah like uh the turnovers obviously you know four 4- z um Texas a& M4 Notre Dame zero not helpful either this defense did an amazing job yeah I but you kind of mentioned it with Notre Dame they were two for 12 on third down they're not getting away scotch free with the offensive criticism either I had higher expectations for Riley Leonard I get uh you know we talked again in the preview about Anthony knp The Freshman starter at left tackle I Proclaim myself an Anthony nap guy because he has a forearm tat and he has like the the the Z Emoji like the Sleepy emoji that we use for the leepers account in his Instagram name because his last name is nap I'm like I'm sold on this guy um he struggled a bit you know he was tasked with blocking Nick scorton he had a ton of penalties um yeah some of the penalties I know all the the young guys on the line you get it it's to be expected first game in a in an environment like that where the crowd you know they took the crowd out of it in the second half they still were allowed at points um still probably pretty frustrating for Notre Dame fans to see I think at one point it was nine penalties 89 yards um yeah and a lot of those came on the offensive end and with Leonard you know I think the most alarming part was it kind of seemed like aside from those two long runs the only offense they could get was him making stuff happen with his legs and I mean Bo Collins had two nice catches two big plays toward the end of the game but um granted they were down Mitchell Evans to the big the big tight end who I know uh was limited and gives him another Target but again you and I have both seen Riley L Riley Leonard play a lot we know he has a cannon and someone's going to have to like they're going to have to do something to get some guys open downfield cuz you know accuracy in those short intermediary routes has never really been his thing but if you can get him going and taking some shots downfield it'll open up more for his legs it just I kind of went into this game thinking you know those 22 to1 odds for him as a Heisman candidate seemed really really low um was kind of surprised he was outside of the top 10 given Notre Dame's pedigree given I know he had a you know was injured for a lot of last year but given what he did as a sophomore um gr we talked about how many Pros are on this A&M defense but it gave me a little more pause with like pumping the breaks on just like how good Riley Leonard is yeah and that that's a tough this is a tough conversation I think I I understand your point on the Heisman ODS I think part of that is that they don't play a lot of big games you I think that's that is a part of the Heisman conversation is like m you know you have to have those moments and you have to have those you know huge put up big numbers and and all this stuff and and play huge games I think that's part of the conversation but I also do um agree with you in that I was not necessarily encouraged by um what I saw from him or what I was expecting to see at least like it just wasn't like jump off the page expecting maybe he inserts himself into the upper on of quarterbacks in this class with Carson Becker Sanders uh Jaylen milro if if that's you know what you think of him but um it just didn't look that way and I'm wondering if it's more of A&M's defense or if it's him I think we're gonna find out I do think you know not to keep hard on the schedule like you have a lot of games to clean some things up and you know put some better tape on on the um on the put some better tape out there for your draft Heisman Pro Prospects or whatever but yeah I wasn't really impressed with Riley Leonard at all yeah yeah again he did make some he had some nice runs made some made some stuff happen out of nothing which like we know that's his game I think that's honestly his biggest strong suit and you know I think he's gonna I wouldn't be surprised if he has a decent NFL career because of the athleticism because of the ability to create when elude pressure I guess um you he's not the shiftiest he's just he's big and truck dudes and he's pretty light on his feet but yeah I I'd like to see a little bit more than 158 yards even against an elite defense like that um came up when it mattered but listen we're going to talk a little bit about it you you hinted at it your Tweet about saying you don't think Notre Dame's gonna lose another game as you look at this schedule what do you think is like the the landmine that's that's sort of lurking there that's hiding that might trip them up because I'm with you they got they got a good chance but is there anybody who you're you're pining in is like oh this might be the one who who could give them their first loss yeah it's so hard because so many of these like tougher games are home games like even if you look at Louisville like Louisville you know they won their game I mean they destroyed Austin P of course but I mean could present a challenge but that's going to be at home um at Georgia Tech we Georgia Tech is got obviously got an amazing win over Florida State and we're going to see if Georgia Tech is you know that team that we saw last Saturday or they just you know got a nice win over a Florida State team who was overlooking them a little bit we'll find that out by the time that they play each other in mid October but I mean yeah I would say the Georgia Tech game is maybe the one if I if I had to pick one but I mean they get they get the benefit of like you know Louisville home Florida State at home you know they'll play at USC we'll see what happens then but um yeah if I had to pick a game I'd say that let's I'd say Circle the Georgia Tech um one at in in Atlanta that's the one I was thinking of too it's funny like you mentioned Louisville Tyler Tyler shu is it Tyler Shu I've always struggled with that pronunciation I know he's been in school for forever I was texting you about him because he was he I think he was a Carolina recruit Once Upon a Time has made stops at Texas him and I I maybe should have come a little more prepared than this I think he and he and Haynes King are are two of like three good quarterbacks in the ACC uh with Cam Ward being the third everybody else is like you know maybe someone else emerges but uh yeah like you so maybe shove has a huge game or something but it's It's just tough to see him doing that doing anything remotely like he did against Austin P or you know he's played in like air raid systems before but having to do that in South B against this defense don't really see it happening but yeah Georgia Tech was the same one that I had in mind again you have a a dude who's in his fifth year of college football in Hanes King they've already pulled off one big one over Florida State can they do it in front of their their their home crowd again as as UNC fans we have learned that Atlanta can be a house of hores the that Stadium whether it's football or whether it's Bas basketball is always like a third full but there's something about it that just puts a hex on you and your team just combusts and implodes when they shouldn't however I think Marcus Freeman's a a little bit better of a coach than ma Brown so probably won't happen with the Irish yeah yeah I mean he he's got his guys ready um and I don't think it's a coincidence that you know they chose this year to have their games on on well no they did a they're doing a peacock docu series I don't think that was accident so yeah hey I might have to tap into those just because of uh the Double riy with Mills and Leonard see see what they're like off the field got to got to stand for the Riley Hive there's not too many of us out there but uh yeah like we said great opening season win for Notre Dame getting that 23-13 win on the road uh we'll be back all season Breaking Down the biggest game so subscribe to sleepers media YouTube channel I'm Riley he's Max we're signing off for the night football season is here money is out there to be had in the form of winning bets and our friends at my bookie want to make it easy for you to do just that yeah and coming into football season you're going to have games all weekend happening everywhere and Gregory where is the only place that sleepers media places all bets I can tell you right now since last February February 1 to be 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